A Doll Hair Dying Experiment + Some Eye Repaints

Speaking of which, I recently watched the new Equestria Girls: Legend of Everfree movie, and it was FANTASTIC! 😀 Those suits of armor during the climax were too fantastic. Also, I love that now they’re truly the Mane 7, not just the Mane 6 plus Sunset Shimmer when they remember her. 😉

Sorry for the lack of exciting stuff here on the blog…things have been ca-razy in the Doll Dimensions household lately! In addition to the blog, I’ve got dance, choir, band, classes at my community college (I’m actually in high school), and babysitting…but in the end it’s so worth it. 🙂

Anywho, I recently, I picked up this Ever After High Birthday Ball Rosabella Beauty doll at Goodwill. Unfortunately, she had none of her original outfit or accessories (no glasses 😦 ), but on the bright side, she did have her hands (not all GW dolls do), and she still had the cookie scent that the Birthday Ball dolls have.

I didn’t have a Rosabella doll, so I decided that for 99 cents I’d pick her up and maybe use her for a project later. To be honest, however, I don’t care too terribly much for the blonde hair on Rosabella. I’ve also been working on the next episode of Costume Palooza, and I was in need of a doll with brown hair and purple eyes. I knew I could paint Rosabella’s irises purple (no problem there), but she needed some brunette locks. Since she was only 99 cents, I wouldn’t feel too bad if I accidentally ruined her…but I’ll give you a spoiler here and tell you that I didn’t end up ruining her. 😉

I wasn’t in the mood for a full reroot, so I decided to try something totally new to me: doll hair dying! Like any good miniature hair dresser, I first educated myself by watching YouTube. 😉 This video seemed like the best way, but I didn’t have shaving cream, so I just used conditioner and watercolor paint.

After leaving it on overnight, I went to rinse it out……and it worked! Well, sort of. If I was trying to achieve a light auburn hair, this probably would have been great! But I needed a slightly darker color for my purposes.

So I did what any intrepid doll blogger would do….

…I went to Dollar Tree! XD

And I bought this brown hair dye intended for humans. In case you want to replicate this, the color is “medium auburn”.

Following the box’s instructions, I combined the color cream tube with the developer and shook well. Then I applied it all over Rosabella’s hair, brushing it through as I did so, and being careful to get down to the roots. I also covered her face securely with saran wrap to make sure that the dye didn’t get on her skin. It did once or twice, and I quickly wiped it off before it could set.

A few hours later, I rinsed it out and………

…….it only sort of worked. It did stick to some of the hairline roots, which was great, but it just didn’t do a great job of applying to the synthetic hair.

Now what could I try? After some research, I found out that fabric markers work well for dying doll hair, so I tried this using a brown fabric marker that I had lying around. It was looking good, although the texture wasn’t great for a hairstyle where the hair was down. However, for my purposes, I needed Rosabella’s hair up in a bun. I found this lovely video and gave the hairstyle a try, after dying her whole head.

Here’s a slightly crummy in-progress photo featuring my jeans. 😛

And…Ta da!

I’m actually really happy with these results. This photo was taken after I painted her eyes purple, and I really like how they came out!

In case you’re curious, I primed her eyes with white first in order to get a more vibrant violet than if I had just painted overtop of her brown eyes.

Creepy, but necessary.

You can also see here two of the other dolls I’m working on for the next installment of Costume Palooza (don’t worry, they’re both used dolls that are repeats of the ones I already have). In case you’re curious, they’re not wearing their Costume Palooza outfits yet, except for Ashlynn.

Be sure to let me know in the comments if you’ve ever tried doll hair dying, and if you like Rosabella’s new ‘do! Also, lemme know if you have any guesses on what theme the next episode of Costume Palooza will feature….I’ll give you a hint that the name of the character Rosabella is playing starts with a J. Did I give it away? 😉

22 thoughts on “A Doll Hair Dying Experiment + Some Eye Repaints”

If I had a dollar for every time I tried dying doll hair, I’d have enough for a new doll! After all my experiments, I came to the conclusion fabric markers are the only reliable method, but unfortunately they aren’t available here (nor is regular fabric dye – what is wrong with my country?). Yours looks very nice and luckily you didn’t ruin her unlike me!

Hahaha I do that a lot too. 😉 I’m not entirely sure, but the same lady who did the video I linked that shows an ombre dye on an Apple White doll did a video where she tried to wash it out to see if it would stay and it did. 🙂

The only other thing I could think of trying is wig dye. I know that cosplayers change the color of wigs with dyes that are designed for synthetic hair fibers. Not sure on the cost though – fabric markers may be cheaper!! Your doll looks great! And I would have guessed Jem, because pink and blonde, but there are no brunettes.

Dear Grace,
Just recently discovered your blog. I’ve attempted the shaving cream and liquid watercolor paint method for doll hair dying once in the past, with mediocre results. However it’s possible I just didn’t use enough paint. I wanted silvery colored highlights in the doll’s blond hair, but couldn’t find silver liquid watercolor at the store. I settled for a blue color instead and just used less paint, attempting to recreate the blue rinse that I’ve heard that some grandmothers use for their hair. The color turned out subtle, and it doesn’t show up in photos, but it’ll do for now. I might give fabric markers a try at some point, now that I know you can use them on doll hair.
Signed, Treesa
If you’d like to know more about my doll hair coloring attempt, you can read all about it on my blog Fashion Doll Memoirs. The doll in question, who I named Platinum, shared the whole story there.

Hi Treesa! 😀 I just marathon-read a ton of posts on your blog….I love it! Your style of dolls telling their stories is very compelling….you’re an awesome story-teller! And thank you so so much for the color advice–I think Platinum turned out lovely! Probably part of the reason why it didn’t work for my Rosabella was because her hair wasn’t blonde to begin with (it was more honey yellow), and because I wanted a really dark shade of brown, not just a tint. Thank you so much for commenting! 🙂

Glad you liked the blog, although my dolls get more credit for that than I do since they’re the ones posting. I just sort of moderate. (smiley face emoji)
However if you like reading stories from dolls themselves, you should check out the sidebar on my blog for a list of some other great bloggers who happen to be dolls. Not all of these bloggers are still actively blogging. But Belle’s Bulletins was the inspiration for me to get my own dolls involved in blogging, and the Queen Elsa doll at A Doll’s Life For Me has gotten back into posting recently. It certainly gives a different perspective reading about life from a doll’s point of view.
From your most recent post it sounds as though you’ve got a lot in the works for your blog, so good luck with all your upcoming projects.
Signed, Treesa